The 2014 Festival will be held later than this year's February 28 start date...it has shifted to April 3 through 13th inclusive. I'll post additional information as it arrives. This should help those dedicated attendees in terms of travel plans

Tomorrow the company begins rehearsals for Frederick Ashton's "Sylvia" which will open the festival on April 3, 2014 with its Mariinsky premiere. This is a great addition to the Mariinsky repertoire and a large step forward. Last year the only new ballet added to the repertoire was Ratmansky's Concerto DSCH (July 6) near the very end of the season. And last year's festival, we will recall, only featured the revival of the Forsythe program but no new works were performed.

SYLVIA is an excellent choice for a new full-evening addition to the repertoire. This may be the Mariinsky's first Ashton ballet, no? I am guessing that one of the Sylvias will be Vishneva, who has already essayed the role in NY (ABT). Terioshkina would be perfect! Not sure about the tall ones...there's that very high lift-carry in Act III to begin the grand pas de deux, with the man walking back and forth across the stage holding Sylvia by her foot/ankle (from what the audience can see)...I remember Darcey Bussell trembling at the opening night of this production in London, while Rupert Pennefather carried her for what seemed an eternity in this position! Kondaurova would also be a great choice for the solo portions but I cannot picture her in this lift. Who is the tallest and strongest male classicist who could pull-off this lift with Big Red? Zverev?

Andrey Ermakov is the tallest/youngest/strongest, I believe. Zverev is also young, strong, and tall, but he's slimmer (presuming that relates to upper body strength which it may not, depending who the leading lady is).

Korsuntsev/Ivanchenko are options but they're both approaching 40 now as we know...

Tomorrow the company begins rehearsals for Frederick Ashton's "Sylvia" which will open the festival on April 3, 2014 with its Mariinsky premiere. This is a great addition to the Mariinsky repertoire and a large step forward. Last year the only new ballet added to the repertoire was Ratmansky's Concerto DSCH (July 6) near the very end of the season. And last year's festival, we will recall, only featured the revival of the Forsythe program but no new works were performed.

Apart from Sylvia, do you know any of the ballets and galas that will be performed and possibly the exact dates of those performances, running from April 3 - 13?

This year's Festival will hopefully be my tenth in a row. Catherine has probably had the great pleasure of seeing even more. I've been looking through my list of names and thought that it might be interesting to recall some personal highlights.

Here are a few Ballerinas.

Alina Cojocaru -- Possibly the best performances overall came from someone who is not even a Mariinsky artist. She was invited to dance the lead in full length classics for four years in a row. After several years' absence because of an injury she returned in 2011 to perform a Giselle that was one of the finest ballet performances that I've ever seen.

Ulyana Lopatkina -- Perhaps the greatest ballerina in the world, she danced a Swan Lake in 2006 that was also one of the finest ballet performances that I've ever seen.

Svetlana Zakharova -- As an often appearing guest artist, last year she danced a Giselle that I still feel was perhaps the best performance of *Anything* that I've ever seen.

Ekaterina Kondaurova -- With two principal ballerinas on maternity leave last year, she was given a huge responsibility. It seemed as if she was performing almost every night. One evening she danced all the leads in Jewels by George Balanchine, a feat probably never attempted before. I was Amazed by her newly apparent theatrical prowess. There is little that this exceptionally gifted artist can't do !

Viktoria Tereshkina in 2009 danced another one the finest Swan Lakes that I've ever seen. Every detail seemed perfect in this one -- nuancing, facial inflection, character interpretation….

Gillian Murphy -- In 2008 I saw her perform for the second time in a progression of ever improving and outstanding Swan Lakes that lasted for years. At one point I was almost keeping a score card of her and Veronika Part's consecutive Swan Lakes.

There were so many other great performances, but these are a few that remain prominent in my memory.

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